Risk perceptions and management strategies in a post-disaster landscape of Guatemala: Social conflict as an opportunity to understand disaster

This work analyses a post-disaster case study in Guatemala where a large landslide named “Los Chorros” affected several communities and one of the country’s main highways. Risk managers, starting from their own assessment, decided to respond in a way that did not coincide with the interests of the a...

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Main Author: Fernandez, Manuela Teresa
Format: Artículo
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/9496
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420921001199
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102153
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author Fernandez, Manuela Teresa
author_browse Fernandez, Manuela Teresa
author_facet Fernandez, Manuela Teresa
author_sort Fernandez, Manuela Teresa
collection INTA Digital
description This work analyses a post-disaster case study in Guatemala where a large landslide named “Los Chorros” affected several communities and one of the country’s main highways. Risk managers, starting from their own assessment, decided to respond in a way that did not coincide with the interests of the affected population. Local communities assessed the disaster risk situation from a different conception of risk and developed an alternative solution. Competition for priorities and solutions for risk management reveals that disaster risk is a complex and holistic concept, comprised of a large set of components. The first objective of this work was to identify the criteria and components chosen by each actor to define disaster risk and the approaches employed during risk assessment. The second objective concerned the study of strategies deployed by actors to legitimize both their assessment of disaster risk and its treatment. Using interviews and observation of practices it is possible to affirm that the actors consider very varied criteria when defining a risk situation. These criteria are material, symbolic, natural, economic, social and are linked to the types of vulnerabilities that actors face and recognize. Risk management measures depend on the specific arbitrations of each actor and their ability to be recognized as legitimate. The challenge for decision makers is to involve the various stakeholders, integrate the risk perceptions and assessments carried out by each actor and subsequently seek a compromise to determine which actions are the most appropriate in terms of social acceptance and technical validity.
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institution Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina)
language Inglés
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spelling INTA94962021-06-04T12:15:38Z Risk perceptions and management strategies in a post-disaster landscape of Guatemala: Social conflict as an opportunity to understand disaster Fernandez, Manuela Teresa Riesgo Evaluación de Riesgos Análisis de Riesgos Vulnerabilidad Conflictos Sociales Guatemala Risk Riisk Assessment Risk Analysis Vulnerability Social Unrest This work analyses a post-disaster case study in Guatemala where a large landslide named “Los Chorros” affected several communities and one of the country’s main highways. Risk managers, starting from their own assessment, decided to respond in a way that did not coincide with the interests of the affected population. Local communities assessed the disaster risk situation from a different conception of risk and developed an alternative solution. Competition for priorities and solutions for risk management reveals that disaster risk is a complex and holistic concept, comprised of a large set of components. The first objective of this work was to identify the criteria and components chosen by each actor to define disaster risk and the approaches employed during risk assessment. The second objective concerned the study of strategies deployed by actors to legitimize both their assessment of disaster risk and its treatment. Using interviews and observation of practices it is possible to affirm that the actors consider very varied criteria when defining a risk situation. These criteria are material, symbolic, natural, economic, social and are linked to the types of vulnerabilities that actors face and recognize. Risk management measures depend on the specific arbitrations of each actor and their ability to be recognized as legitimate. The challenge for decision makers is to involve the various stakeholders, integrate the risk perceptions and assessments carried out by each actor and subsequently seek a compromise to determine which actions are the most appropriate in terms of social acceptance and technical validity. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche Fil: Fernandez, Manuela Teresa. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Fernandez, Manuela Teresa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Fernandez, Manuela Teresa. University of Lausanne. Institute of Geography and Sustainability; Suiza 2021-06-04T12:07:56Z 2021-06-04T12:07:56Z 2021-04-15 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/9496 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420921001199 2212-4209 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102153 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) application/pdf Elsevier International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 57 : Art. 102153 (Abril 2021)
spellingShingle Riesgo
Evaluación de Riesgos
Análisis de Riesgos
Vulnerabilidad
Conflictos Sociales
Guatemala
Risk
Riisk Assessment
Risk Analysis
Vulnerability
Social Unrest
Fernandez, Manuela Teresa
Risk perceptions and management strategies in a post-disaster landscape of Guatemala: Social conflict as an opportunity to understand disaster
title Risk perceptions and management strategies in a post-disaster landscape of Guatemala: Social conflict as an opportunity to understand disaster
title_full Risk perceptions and management strategies in a post-disaster landscape of Guatemala: Social conflict as an opportunity to understand disaster
title_fullStr Risk perceptions and management strategies in a post-disaster landscape of Guatemala: Social conflict as an opportunity to understand disaster
title_full_unstemmed Risk perceptions and management strategies in a post-disaster landscape of Guatemala: Social conflict as an opportunity to understand disaster
title_short Risk perceptions and management strategies in a post-disaster landscape of Guatemala: Social conflict as an opportunity to understand disaster
title_sort risk perceptions and management strategies in a post disaster landscape of guatemala social conflict as an opportunity to understand disaster
topic Riesgo
Evaluación de Riesgos
Análisis de Riesgos
Vulnerabilidad
Conflictos Sociales
Guatemala
Risk
Riisk Assessment
Risk Analysis
Vulnerability
Social Unrest
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/9496
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420921001199
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102153
work_keys_str_mv AT fernandezmanuelateresa riskperceptionsandmanagementstrategiesinapostdisasterlandscapeofguatemalasocialconflictasanopportunitytounderstanddisaster